LOS ALAMITOS : Mare Made His Day Even More Memorable

Last Saturday’s program ended much better than it began for jockey Roman Figueroa.

After losing on his first five mounts and surviving a hair-raising journey aboard Unagal in the seventh race, Figueroa guided Ima Ladys Alibi to victory in the $35,000 Las Damas Handicap, the only stakes race at Los Alamitos over the weekend.

Figueroa, tied for eighth in the jockey standings, was thankful simply to be aboard Ima Ladys Alibi by the time she went on the track. Unagal, who won her last start, bolted toward the outside rail in the final 100 yards of the seventh race, and it appeared that she might jump the fence. That appeared to leave Figueroa with one option--jumping off.

“I was just fixing to do it, and I saw how hard the ground was,” he said. “I hesitated and she came back herself. It was scary.”

An hour later, Figueroa was all smiles after guiding Ima Ladys Alibi to her second stakes victory in eight days. The 5-year-old mare won the St. Nicholas Express Handicap on Dec. 26 at Los Alamitos, setting a 300-yard track record of 15.21 seconds. Her victory in Saturday’s 400-yard Las Damas was a mild upset.

She beat Sound Dash, who was second recently to Refrigerator in the Champion of Champions; and Junos Request, the probable champion older mare of 1992, who finished fifth. It was Ima Ladys Alibi’s third stakes victory and fourth victory overall since coming to California last summer from Ruidoso, N.M.

“She was doing so well last week when she beat some nice horses and some nice geldings,” Figueroa said. “She leaves (the gate) as fast as she can. I was afraid we were in the (gates) too long. She got kind of anxious.”

Ima Ladys Alibi, purchased last summer by trainer Blane Schvaneveldt for Bill Price of Oklahoma, provided the trainer with his 245th Los Alamitos stakes victory in the Las Damas. Schvaneveldt also leads the trainer’s standings with 34 victories from 162 starters.

Since joining Schvaneveldt’s barn, Ima Ladys Alibi has been consistent. She finished third in a small stake at Fairplex Park last September, then returned in early October to win the Breeders Distaff Classic at Hollywood Park. Her only poor race was a fifth in the Anne Burnett Invitational at Hollywood Park in mid-October.

“I wouldn’t have run her back (so quickly), but the son of a gun was ready to come back,” Schvaneveldt said. “When they’re hot, they’re hot, and this mare is sharp.”

Ima Ladys Alibi caught the trainer’s eye last May when she beat Shiny Six in a small handicap at Ruidoso Downs. Shiny Six won last year’s Las Damas.

“I thought she could develop into a good one,” he said. “You never know, but when they beat those horses (in New Mexico), they usually come out here and do well.”

Despite two races in eight days, Ima Ladys Alibi might start again in the $5,000 Horsemen’s Quarter Horse Racing Assn. Handicap on Jan. 16, the closing night of the meeting.

Rivanne’s victory in a maiden race last Saturday represented one of the final chapters of the White Oaks Ranch’s racing division, which is holding a dispersal sale at the Heritage Place Winner Mixed Sale in Oklahoma City on Jan. 23.

The dispersal sale involves only 15 horses, including Florentine, who was champion aged horse of 1988; and her dam, the thoroughbred mare Trippy Dip. Also included are horses of racing age, recently turned 2-year-olds and broodmares.

The dispersal sale continues a disturbing trend in quarter horse and thoroughbred racing of top breeders leaving the sport. At last year’s Heritage Place sale, Jack Hall’s Liston Aluminum Brick Co. held a dispersal sale.

Ginger Hyland, who began White Oaks Ranch with her family in the early 1960s, said the reasons for dispersing were plentiful.

“It’s been very painful, and it took quite a bit of time (to reach the decision),” she said. “The expenses of racing horses in California, due largely to workmen’s compensation and the decline (in stakes purses), have made it an economic impossibility to raise horses in California.”

Those at White Oaks Ranch were the first quarter horse breeders to breed two millionaires--the fillies Dashingly and Florentine, both of whom were among the top racehorses of the 1980s. (The Vessels Stallion Farm in Bonsall has since equaled the achievement).

Neither Dashingly nor Florentine won the All American Futurity, which carries a million-dollar prize for first place. Instead, they earned it the hard way--winning and placing in major races throughout their careers.

Unlike thoroughbred racing, where large purses are available for horses of all ages, quarter horse purses tail off dramatically after the 2-year-old season. And, although she won the Ed Burke Memorial Futurity as a 2-year-old, Florentine excelled at 3 and 4, winning 10 stakes races and three division titles.

Hyland stressed quality over quantity, selling a few horses at the major sales each year and racing a few. Aside from Rivanne, who is out of Trippy Dip, the ranch also recently campaigned Avison, who ran in several futurities last year but managed only a fifth in the Ed Burke Memorial Futurity.

The dispersal could bring major prices. Dashingly, who was not raced by White Oaks Ranch, sold as a broodmare for $185,000. Trippy Dip and Florentine could threaten that price.

Despite the dispersal, Hyland says she will remain on the board of directors of the HQHRA and active in quarter horse racing.

Los Alamitos Notes

There are two weeks remaining in the quarter horse meeting. It might take that long to decide the jockey standings. Through Sunday, Jerry Yoakum and Henry Garcia are tied with 25 victories. . . . Refrigerator, who won the Champion of Champions last month, has been shipped to owner Jim Helzer’s farm in Texas for a vacation. The gelding is the leading candidate for quarter horse World champion, which will be announced by the American Quarter Horse Assn. on Jan. 24. . . . Trainer Loren Nichols has been suspended 45 days, through Feb. 16, for “possession of contraband” on Dec. 10.